NEW YORK, US: After an upbeat start to the year with two consecutive quarters of increases in optimism, global consumer confidence fell three points in September to an Index of 90 as consumers' hopes for a full economic recovery this year fades in most parts of the world, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index.

Game Stores has come a long way since it opened its first store in Durban in 1970 in cramped premises in the city's CBD, ringing up sales of R78 000 in its first month of trading. Its founders believed that shopping had become a tedious and boring pastime. They wanted to create a fun shopping environment and so conceptualised retailing as a game. The signature bright pink prevails to this day.

Global brewing giant SABMiller said on Thursday, 25 February 2010, that group companies SABMiller Africa BV and Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) have agreed an amicable settlement of their dispute with East African Breweries Limited (EABL), a member of the Diageo plc group, relating to the Tanzanian beer market.

Alcohol producer and distributor Distell is spearheading a viticultural initiative in Tanzania expected to enable wine farmers in the Dodoma highlands to double their crops within three to five years — and may yet be developing a feasible model for rolling out vineyard productions across sub-Saharan Africa.

Kenya's struggling tourism sector will receive a boost following an announcement by Google to promote tourism in Africa through online marketing tools by providing free advertisement vouchers to African organisations to market their businesses in an online environment.